Teachers and pupils of Mpeasem Catholic School in Jomoro cry for teachers' quarters

Correspondence from the Western Region

The teaching staff and pupils of Mpeasem Catholic primary school, a fishing community in the Jomoro Municipality of the Western Region, have made a passionate appeal to the government of Ghana and other kind-hearted Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to construct teachers' quarters for teachers in the area.

The Mpeasem Catholic primary school, along the Half Assini-New Town road, was established in 1983.

The school, however, is yet to see a major facelift.

The lack of accommodation for teachers is making it difficult for teachers to accept postings to the area.

The few that accept postings also find living in the area difficult due to a lack of accommodation in the community.

It was observed by GhanaWeb's Western Regional Correspondent during his visit to the school that, some teachers of the school rent houses at Half Assini, a situation that does not help them to attend school early in the morning.

Our correspondent also observed that the school has no toilet, which compels the pupils to defecate in nearby bushes.

He further observed that a classroom block that accommodates class one pupils to class six pupils, has its roofing sheets ripped off completely.

According to the school authority, the incident happened in 2019 due to a heavy storm.

The inadequate classrooms in the school compelled the management of the school to combine two classes.

It was also observed that some pupils receive their lessons in bamboo sheds provided by the school management.

These challenges force teachers to seek transfer from the school within a few years of their stay in the community.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the headmaster of the school, Mr. Joseph Eduah Erzoah expressed worry over the situation and called on the government to come to their aid.

"We need teachers' quarters here for teachers because the community does not have accommodation for visitors, our teachers find it very difficult to stay so we are appealing to the government to help us," he pleaded for help.

"We don't have any house for teachers so whenever they post teachers here, I have to take them to Half Assini which is far from the school before they can get a place to stay. Teachers staying at Half Assini have to use okada before coming to school to teach and this situation has forced a lot of teachers to refuse postings here. We are appealing for teachers' quarters so that teachers can stay here and teach our children," he emphasised.

He added that "As I'm speaking, we have only five teachers teaching here, we are supposed to have at least eight teachers so we will appeal for additional three teachers.".

He, therefore, took the opportunity to express his displeasure over the inadequate classrooms in the school.

"Currently we have three hundred and twenty pupils and because we don't have enough classrooms, we have combined classes five and six. We have also put class one pupils and class two pupils together and it is affecting teaching and learning here," he stated.

He also appealed to the government and other NGOs to construct a toilet for the school.

Moreover, some of the pupils who spoke to GhanaWeb's Western Regional Correspondent expressed their worry over the situation and pleaded with the government of Ghana to come to the assistance of the school.

"We are calling on the government to come and construct teachers' quarters for our teachers because some of them rent houses at Half Assini and this is affecting our academic performance. We don't have toilet facilities here. We are pleading with the president to come to our aid by renovating our school building for us because our school building is nothing to write home about. We are appealing to the president to come and build teachers' quarters for us," they stated.